Beer barrel bung



May 15, 1934. s. GABEL El AL BEER BARREL BUNG Filed Dec. 26, 1933Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BEER BARREL BUNGApplication December 26, 1933, Serial No. 704,042

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a bung especially intended for use on beerbarrels and has for an object to provide an improved bung which willhave all the strength of the normal bung and yet at the same time willminimize the danger of the annulus of the bung from being split when thespigot is driven through the bung into the barrel.

A further object of this invention is to provide a beer barrel bungwherein the stopper portion is separated from the annulus portion by areinforcing shoulder, thereby confining the break between the stopperportion and the annulus portion to the section below the shoulder andthe stopper and preventing the possibility of the annulus splitting andthus avoiding the spilling of the contents of the barrel throughleakage.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a beer bung whichis an improvement over the bung disclosed in the pending application,Ser. No. 689,626, filed September 15, 1933, and Ser. No. 695,670, filedOctober 28th, 1933 by the same inventors.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will hereinafter becomeapparent, this invention comprises the constructions, combinations andarrangements of parts, hereinafter set forth, disclosed and shown on theaccompanying drawing. In this drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the lower por tion of a beer barrel,partly broken away to show the new bung applied therein,

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the invention,

Figure 3 is a sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view through the bung showingthe breaking pointtherein.

There is shown at a fragmentary portion of the beer barrel having a bunghole 11 closed by the bung 12 through which the spigot 13 is to bedriven. The bung 12 includes the annulus portion 14 which fits withinthe bung hole 11 and the stopper portion 15, which closes the openingthrough the annulus portion 14. One great defect of beer bungs asconventionally made, is that the spigot 13 when driven through the bung12 is very apt to split the annulus portion 14 as it knocks the stopperportion 15 away therefrom, this being true in the conventional bungwhere the annulus portion 14 extends in a straight line to the stopperportion 15. This is very undesirable for obvious reasons in that itallows the contents of the barrel to escape through the slit and furtherallows the gas pressure within the contents to be reduced, due to theescape through the split annulus.

The purpose of this improvement is to elimihate this undesirablefeature. In this invention the annulus portion 14 does notextendstraight through the stopper portion 15, but instead is separatedtherefrom by a shoulder portion 17. As a result of the presence of thisshoulder portion 17, which has an opening therethrough of sumcicntdiameter to allow the end of the spigot 13 to contact against thestopper portion 15, the strain exerted by the spigot 13 breaking awaythe stopper portion 15 from the annulus portion 14 is prevented fromreaching the annulus portion 14 but instead is absorbed in the shoulderportion 17. The shoulder portion 17 thus acts to greatly reinforce theannulus portion 14 and prevents any split developing in the annulusportion 14.

In operation, this bung 12 is inserted in the barrel 10 in theconventional manner and when the spigot 13 is being forced into thebarrel 10 it is likewise done in the conventional manner by driving theend of the spigot 13 against the stopper portion 15, breaking thestopper portion 15 away from the annulus portion 14 and from thereinforcing shoulder 1'7. The presence of the reinforcing shoulder 17insures a clean break and prevents any split of the annulus portion 14.

The novel features and the operation of this 55 device will be apparentfrom the foregoing description. While the device has been shown and thestructure described in detail, it is obvious that this is not to beconsidered limited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes may bemade therein within the scope of what is claimed without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

1. A bung of frangible material comprising an annulus portion, a stopperportion, said annulus portion having an aperture leading to said stopperportion, and a shoulder portion connecting said annulus portion and saidstopper portion whereby said stopper portion may be broken away leavingsaid shoulder and annulus portion intact.

2. A bung of frangible material comprising an annulus portion, a stopperportion, said annulus portion having an aperture leading to said stopperportion, and a shoulder portion connecting said annulus portion and saidstopper portion, said shoulder portion serving to strengthen andreinforce said annulus portion adjacent said stopper portion wherebysaid stopper portion may be 110 4. A beer barrel bung of frangiblematerial comprising an annulus portion, a straight outside wall on saidannulus portion, an aperture through said annulus portion, a stopperportion closing said annulus portion, and a stepped inside wall on saidannulus portion leading to said stopper portion, said stepped insidewall providing a reinforcing shoulder adjacent said stopper portionwhereby said stopper portion may be broken away leaving said shoulderand annulus portion intact.

SAMUEL GABEL. DAVID A. FENICI-IELL.

